Towing in Oregon

[jsb5717]

Oregon DOT has a nice pamphlet that articulates state laws for towing as well as general safety considerations. Overall it's a good publication.

https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Safety/D...ngATrailer.pdf

I saw this in there on page 6 and it made me look twice. I had always considered published hitch or pin weights to be empty weight. If this statement is generally true then it changes/simplifies how we calculate available payload in TV's.

Thoughts?

[LewisB]

There is no way the manufacturer can "consider" the loaded hitch weight of my trailer because they don't know how I'm going to load it.

To me, all this states is that the manufacturer makes an "engineering consideration" of hitch weight during the design phase. Placement (forward an aft) of trailer axles, strength of axles, brakes, etc. all impact the design hitch weight and all get engineering consideration. So the hitch weight established during design will be in the designed "proportion" of the total GVWR for the vehicle. I suspect (but don't know) that the design process includes some of the anticipated weight (propane, batteries, water, etc.) that could reasonably be added by almost every user after purchase.

This engineering estimated number provides valuable information to the prospective user by helping determine the proper tow vehicle capability, and helps the owner insure that the trailer is properly loaded. But I don't think this number was intended to or ever could replace the actual loaded weight on the hitch by a user.

[jsb5717]

Agreed, you can't know the actual loaded hitch weight until you buy the rig and load it.

But for pre-purchase estimating purposes are the published hitch/pin weights usable for calcs? We use the GVWR number for calcing TV towing needs even though that number is also different from the end users loaded weight. We often state that 20-25% of GVWR is a good ballpark calc for hitch weight as part of the the TV payload requirements.

It really isn't a big deal, just wondering if the published hitch weights are actually usable for those estimates as they are without recalcing them.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by jsb5717

Agreed, you can't know the actual loaded hitch weight until you buy the rig and load it.

But for pre-purchase estimating purposes are the published hitch/pin weights usable for calcs? We use the GVWR number for calcing TV towing needs even though that number is also different from the end users loaded weight. We often state that 20-25% of GVWR is a good ballpark calc for hitch weight as part of the the TV payload requirements.

It really isn't a big deal, just wondering if the published hitch weights are actually usable for those estimates as they are without recalcing them.

In short, no those published numbers are not actually useable. Obviously no one will know what an owner's trailer will weigh until they load it, then reload it then load it again and again. That number will generally continue to rise. With that in mind the published tongue/pin weight has always been light in my experience. To try to use that number to determine a tow vehicle is a costly mistake; in more ways than one possibly. The only feasible way to guestimate a truck trailer combo is to use the gvw of the trailer then figure an approx. tongue pin weight from that; 13% for a bumper pull, at least 20% for a 5th wheel. If you don't load to gvw....GOOD! You have a built in safety cushion. If you try to match to the dry weight only then when you do start "growing" the truck is already overloaded and unsafe. GVW is the only way to do those calculations safely, just like using payload in a truck vs gawr.

[notanlines]

The author of that statement had obviously been a pickup/RV salesperson somewhere in their employment history....

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by notanlines

The author of that statement had obviously been a pickup/RV salesperson somewhere in their employment history....

Or a "tech writer" who had NEVER towed a trailer, but has multiple degrees in "English composition", and determined that changing the original words would "make it a flow better with the preceding or following sentence and the number of words in each sentence would be closer to the same in each sentence."

It seems the more "technical" things get, the further from reality they become because people who "know what it's supposed to say" are "superseded by the English majors", hired to make sure the manual is properly worded and doesn't contradict some obscure law that's no longer considered valid, but is still on the books.....

[Huntme]

Good to know,thank you.

[Huntme]

about the information that is.

[GMcKenzie]

The brochure for my trailer lists the tongue weight at 630 lbs. This is a complete fiction

Weighed tongue weight is ~1,050. I think if you ask around for people who have scaled their rigs, you will find similar differences. Better off using 13% - 15% of gross trailer weight if you are wanting to estimate.